In Japan, this game is regarded as the first one of the “Seiken Densetsu” series, which is internationally known as the “Mana” series. The hero is a slave of the Empire Glaive. One of his fellows tells him the world is in danger. Thus the hero decides to escape and seek Excalibur to defeat Dark Lord. And to save the world, he has got to protect the Mana family…
Game objectives
- Genre: ARPG
- Emulator used: Visual Boy Advance v22-lua51
- Allow Up+Down / Left+Right
- Uses a game restart sequence
- Uses Warp
- Aims for fastest time
Takes damage to save time
If the hero gets hurt, he is pushed rapidly to certain direction, which boosts his walking speed.
Luck manipulation
The RNG is used every frame. In order to save time, I searched frames which result in the best.
- When scrolling maps, wait some frames to change how enemies appear.
- If I want enemies to drop some items, wait some frames before beating them.
- To give more damage to enemies, time the best frame to attack.
About the movie
184954 frames faster than MattyXB’s current published run. This improvement greatly owes to new Warp Glitches.
Route to the Ending
Escape Glaive
No improvement.
Rescue the heroine and arrive at Kett’s
No need to purchase Axe. Kill some enemies as fast as possible. When level 1, beat only Myconids. Killing one Death Flower (who has 3 EXP) needs two swings of sword if the hero’s level is fewer than 3. So before entering swamps, the hero should be level 3.
Find Bronze Key
Before fighting against Lizard Men, the hero should be level 4. If the hero is level 4, only two swings are enough to kill Lizard Men. It takes three hits if he is level 3, resulting in losing some frames.
Warp from Cave of Marsh to Undersea Volcano via Ice Caverns
Get the man accompanied in the Marsh Cave. (He is necessary for Warp Method 2.) Then use Warp Method 1, which I explain below, to move to Ice Caverns. On the way in Ice Caverns, beat Walrus to get Blizzard from the treasure chest. (This magical item is also necessary for Warp Method 2.) Then again use Warp Method 1 to go to Undersea Volcano.
Warp from Undersea Volcano to the top of Tower of Gemma
Restart the game at a certain point and use Warp Method 2. Then reach in front of heroin’s mother and receive Excalibur.
Final Battle
Defeat Julius quickly. Then the movie will end.
Warp Glitches
I used two methods of warping.
- Method 1
- Get the full Will and walk toward an Icefield which makes you slip. Use full power attack vertically to the slipping direction. Then the hero slips to the edge of the screen, walking through the wall. If you change maps in the wall, the next map can be another dungeon.
- Method 2
- This Warp requires an NPC player. At the map in Undersea Volcano, where there are three doors and the stairs, save & load game to summon enemies. Then use Blizzard to make a snowman and convey it onto the stairs. Walk toward the snowman. An NPC player sometimes comes between the hero and the snowman. At that time, the hero slightly enters the snowman. When he enters it over 8 pixels, break the snowman and walk downwards. Then the map will scroll and you can reach the top of the Tower of Gemma.
Other improvements
The battle against Julius is worth to be featured. I will explain the difference from MattyXB’s run briefly.
- Julius Form 1
- I used normal attack instead of the full Will attack. Sometimes the hero’s sword hits two Juliuses at the same time.
- Julius Form 2
- The accompanied man’s Fire magic is very effective, which deals three times as much damage as the hero’s Excalibur. When Julius’s thunder remains on the screen, the man does not use Fire. So the hero sometimes cuts the thunder.
- Julius Form 3
- The heroin in the middle of the map is just an object. Utilizing some invincible time, the density of swinging sword increased.
Useful RAMs to watch
In this game, you cannot see an enemy's HP or even damage dealt. These memory can help you to understand what is happening when the hero is fighting.
- 0xD3F2 (1u), 0xD3F4 (2u)
- damage, HP of BOSS
- 0xC4EC (2u), 0xC4EE (1u)
- HP, damage of Enemy1 (or an NPC)
- 0xC504 (2u), 0xC506 (1u)
- HP, damage of Enemy2
- 0xC51C (2u), 0xC51E (1u)
- HP, damage of Enemy3
- 0xC534 (2u), 0xC536 (1u)
- HP, damage of Enemy4
- 0xC54C (2u), 0xC54E (1u)
- HP, damage of Enemy5
Thanks
- MattyXB: His warp glitched run gives me some good ideas, how to scroll maps quickly, how to earn enough EXP, and so on.
- Cheap: A skillful Japanese speedrunner. What I did is just to follow his speedrun on real console. What is more, when I uploaded my testrun on Nicovideo, he watched it and advised me. This TAS greatly owes to him.
I hope that you will enjoy this TAS!
Nach: Okay, what happened to my Dark Night fight? And Final Fantasy without a Chocobo? Oh, and using the same name for both characters isn't confusing enough, you had to have two Mana girls running around during the Julius fight? I'm supposed to accept this?
Nice improvement to one of the first runs I ever judged. Accepting.
Nahoc: Will publish this one when I'll get time.
It is optimized.
